176 pages 9” x 7”SoftcoverISBN-13: 978-0-8389-8825-1
Year Published: 2016AP Categories: P
Can we create library environments that inspire people to be more creative, collaborative, reflective, or engaged? That is the driving question of this imaginative book. Brian Mathews (Virginia Tech Libraries) weaves elements together from architecture, psychology, retail, neuroscience, and many other disciplines in this narrative about the evolution of library buildings. Re-conceptualizing libraries as showrooms, studios, salons, and boutiques, some new directions are outlined for discussion about the future. The text encourages you and your team to look beyond the functional value of your facility, and to consider how libraries can also serve as an experimental landscape that helps foster well being and personal growth.

Featuring drawings and renderings from interior designer Leigh Ann Soistmann, Encoding Space is ideal for librarians and campus administrators looking to spark their creative thinking and push strategic conversations about the purpose, value, and future of library buildings.Table of Contents

PROLOGUE: What’s the Building Trying to Tell Us?

THE GUIDING QUESTIONS

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE

Swayed By Our SurroundingsWhat Makes A Space A Place?From Dichotomy To EcologyKnowledge SpilloversPurpose = ElevateAttachmentHow Does This Space Make You Feel?When A Chair Is More Than A Place To SitSpace Imparts ActionProgrammable Space

RETAIL (EXCHANGE)

Persuasive SpacesThe Most Important ThingVocabularyMerchandisingVisual CuesThe Soul Of A SpaceAudit Your AtmosphereColorA Point Of ViewNurturing The Scholarly ImpulseIs It What You Thought It Would Be?Primed For SuccessStore-Within-A-StoreAway From The DeskOmni ChannelCurating BehaviorsPersonalizationResponsive Space

Transition #1: From Third Place To Magnet PlaceTransition #2: From Commons To CommunityElements of CommunityDwellingTransition #3: From Transactions To TransformationsThe Danger Of Being Service-OrientedTransition #4: From User Centered To Learner CenteredBuild It and They Will Come, So What?

COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS

Dynamic > StaticYou Can’t Study Just One BeePlayInstruments of InnovationA Great Big Box Of Parts

WELL-BEING

HeartHopeBrain

RADICAL COLLABORATION: A Manifesto

About the AuthorsAbout the Authors

Brian Mathews is an associate dean and learning space developer at the Virginia Tech Libraries. He has also held library positions at the University of California - Santa Barbara, Georgia Tech, and the George Washington University.

“Given the breadth of its research and the accessibility of its writing, Encoding Space should be required reading for librarians and library administrators.”
— Portal: Libraries and the Academy

“[R]eading this book and understanding the basic concepts proposed is well worth consideration for any library and librarian as we move forward, deeper into the 21st century.”
— Journal of Learning Spaces

Schmidt and Etches identify 19 crucial touchpoints such as the library website, email, furniture, parking lot, events, and newsletters. They explain why each is important to your library’s members and offer guidance on how to make improvements.

The Academic Library Building in the Digital Age: A Study of Construction, Planning, and Design of New Library Space is the first comprehensive study of planning and construction of academic library buildings completed entirely in the new century.